Answer: Even according to the New Testament, Jesus did not fulfill many crucial messianic prophecies during his lifetime. He was neither the singular ruler promised nor did he exercise any regal authority. God promises concerning the Messiah, "And David My servant shall be king over them; and they all shall have one shepherd . . . and My servant David shall be their prince forever" (Ezekiel 37:24-25).

Jesus also did not fulfill the prophecies which speak of the benefits the people of Israel were to enjoy under the Messiah's rule and leadership (e.g., Ezekiel 34:25- 31, 37:21-28; Isaiah 11; Jeremiah 23:6, 30:10-11).

The prophecies concerning the Messiah and the benefits of his rule over Israel form an integral unit which one cannot fragment in order to proclaim limited fulfillment of prophecy during Jesus' lifetime and to rationalize that the remaining fragments will be fulfilled during a second appearance. There was a total lack of fulfillment by Jesus of these prophecies.

Christians wait in vain for an expected fulfillment of messianic prophecies during a second coming by Jesus. Their count is off. This would have to refer to a third coming. The first coming covers the period prior to Jesus' death and the second coming spans the period from his alleged resurrection to his alleged ascension.

Christian expressions of faith in the eventual fulfillment of the promise to return cannot be allowed to distort the facts. The New Testament's imminent expectation that Jesus would soon return and establish the kingdom of God was left unfulfilled. There was no visible signs of universal peace and prosperity, the destruction of Israel's enemies, a reuniting of the scattered exiles of Israel, and a reign of righteousness over the earth (e.g., Isaiah 2:23-24, Isaiah 11, Micah 4:1- 3).

Jews still hold to this biblical conception of redemption. It is the absence of such characteristics that trouble Jews, then and now, concerning the Christian claim that Jesus was "the Christ."